BOTANICAL CONSIDERATIONS. 17 



tinues to be a mystery. The petals and stamens, once 

 their functions are completed, dry up, and in case of 

 beet seed they frequently persistently remain. 



Botanical Examination of Beet Seed. 



If we examine the seed as found on the market, we 

 find a rather hard substance with a very rough sur- 

 face and very irregular in shape. By slicing with a 

 knife this so-called seed in one direction, we obtain a 

 section as shown (Fig. 14); if from these sockets, which 

 we examine, the seed proper is withdrawn, we find it 

 has the appearance shown in Fig. 15 as seen in front; 

 on top and side the shape is somewhat triangular and 

 the surface smooth and brown in color; the side view 

 shows it to be convex and generally measures in lengfth 

 3 m. m. and 1.5 m. m. in width. This seed has no diffi- 

 culty in penetrating the outer covering through a 

 small opening when the proper conditions of heat and 

 moisture are furnished in the soil. On the outer cov- 

 ering, or pericarp, is frequently found what remains of 

 the carpels, and also, in most cases, the dried petals. A 

 section of the seed, made with a knife, and looked at 

 with a strong glass, reveals its arrangement, the same 

 as shown in section (Fig. 16); at e may be seen 

 the cotyledons and at v the plumule, or the first bud 

 from which will form the shoot of the germinating 

 plantlet above the cotyledons. The root subsequently 

 develops from r. Droysen declares that at r may be 

 found eight to fifteen layers of cells which contain 

 granules of protein in an oleaginous mass. The brown 

 color of the seed comes from its testa covering; this is 

 in several layers, the principal ones being the exterior 

 and interior. Its botanical structure is rather difficult 

 to get at, but under the microscope its appearance is 

 about as shown (Fig. 17), this being many hundred 

 times magnified. The outer layer mainly has for its 

 principal function that of regulating the germination of 



